John "Jack" MacMillan

With indescribable sadness we announce the passing of our beloved father, devoted husband, doting grandfather, protective big brother, uncle and friend to many, John Kenneth MacMillan; known fondly as Jack to everyone, in the early morning of October 20th, 2020 with his family by his side after a courageous battle with cancer.

Jack was born on January 12, 1948 in Port Arthur to Malcolm and Louise MacMillan. He was their only son and older brother to Mary Lou. Jack grew up on Ruttan Street and attended Shuniah St. Public School where he met his lifelong friends, Tom Chandler, Eric Bodkin, and Reid Mason. Outside of his family home on Ruttan Street was where all the neighbourhood kids gathered to play hockey, baseball and football in the backyards. This is where his love of sports, in particular hockey and football, was born and continued on into his years at Hillcrest High School where he was offered a position to play football for North Dakota. Jack continued to play sports for many years and for many different teams in our city.

After graduating from Hillcrest High School, he attended Lakehead University in the Business Program where he received his degree. It is here that he first spied the love of his life Marnie while she was a proctor for the university pub. After building up the courage over the course of a year he finally asked her out. Thankfully, she agreed and they eventually got married on June 2, 1973 and together raised three wonderful children, Joanna, Janet and Malcolm.

Upon his graduation Jack opened the first colour photo finishing plant in Thunder Bay, Prismatic Photo, with his partner Bill Esarik. Dad then rented at building on Hardisty Street with his business partner and friend of 50 years, Chad Hannah. They brought in a box car of Cedar from B.C, unloaded it by hand with their friends and thus, Twin City Lumber was born. In 1991 Chad and Dad brought Home Hardware to Thunder Bay, eventually retiring in the summer of 2018.

Our dad was an active member in the community. He was Past Master of Thunder Bay Lodge and a member of Connaught Lodge, the Scottish Rite and Lakehead Shrine. He served on the Board for Pro Kids, was a past President of NorWest Minor Hockey Association for several years and supporter of many other charities and organizations within our city. He coached and managed hockey teams before his children were born, while they played and in the years after. He was a well-respected business man and believed in serving and giving back to our community. He believed that all people deserved a standard of living where they could provide for themselves and their families, are safe, happy, healthy, housed and fed. He has literally given the shirt off his back and the shoes off his feet. He believed in second chances and was a loyal and good friend to many. Jack was known as a respected, fair, kind, compassionate and generous man. He was a gentle giant but stood his ground when it needed to be done.

Our parents have the great fortune to be surrounded by so many loving and loyal friends. One of our Dad’s favourite pastimes was getting together with his longtime friends from his beer, wings and fishing group. His fishing group buddies, his Shuniah School friends and my mom’s friends “the Blob” provided us with an incredible amount of support, love and care in these past difficult months, making our days a little easier and reminding us how much our Dad was loved.

But Jack’s greatest accomplishment and what brought him the most joy and pride was his children and grandchildren. He built them a little kingdom out at the family camp on Shebandowan with all the toys! Nothing made this man happier than being with family and watching them enjoy the fruits of his labour. Some of our greatest times and memories were made out at Camp; fishing, boat rides, bon fires, dinners, saunas, side by side rides, building and of course the ongoing battle with the water line! It won’t be the same having a drink on the deck without him. His role as a father, grandfather and loyal husband was what he was born to do. He never let us down, showing up for every, game, practice, dance recital and performance. He helped us out with every situation and milestone, gave great advice, the warmest hugs and we were all his sweethearts and beautifuls. He taught us to be honest, kind, caring, trustworthy and hard working. He taught us that facing and doing difficult things builds your courage and in his last moments taught us not to be afraid. He leaves an incredible legacy behind and a family that will continue to take care of each other, love each other and show up for each other.

He was funny and thoughtful and truly showed us the meaning of love and how to love. And although we wanted more time, we feel grateful he was ours for the past 72 years. Jack will be sadly missed and lovingly remembered by his wife of 47 plus years, Marnie; his children Joanna Martins (Paulo), Janet MacMillan (Bruno), Malcolm MacMillan (Laura). He deeply loved his grandchildren, Sofia, Callum and Isabella Martins, Lua and Selah Sousa, Cameron and Ethan MacMillan. He is also survived by his beloved sister Mary Lou O’Donnell (Randy), numerous nieces and nephews, his brother and sister-in-law Peter and Shelly Stewart and David Hearn and many numerous, wonderful friends. He was predeceased by his parents, his in-laws George and Olga Stewart and sister–in-law Gill Hearn as well as many aunties, uncles cousins and his best little fur buddy George.

We were able to keep our Dad home as long as possible thanks to the LHIN, Bayshore, the nurses from Paramed, especially Georgette and Aaron. A special thanks to Clara and Nadia from the Hospice unit at St. Joe’s for their exceptional care and understanding. Thank you to Dr. Laferriere and her team at the Cancer Clinic for doing the best they could for our Dad.

Due to the restrictions of COVID-19 a private service will be held for Jack in the chapel of Harbourview Funeral Centre on Wednesday, October 28th at 11:00 a.m. To view the services live, please visit www.harbourviewfuneral.ca.

A public celebration of Jack’s life will take place at a later date. Details will be announced when restrictions have eased and it’s safe.

In lieu of flowers, Jack would have appreciated donations to the Shriners Hospital for Children and the Thunder Bay Regional Health Sciences Foundation – Northern Cancer Fund or The Thunder Bay Humane Society.